HIDDEN WEALTH

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 17

HIDDEN WEALTH

NEW*ZEALAND'S COAL

USE OF-BY-PRODUCTS

A NEGLECTED FIELD

; (By T. H. Kally.)

:T.o thu oulside world New Zealand is'.Vlcscfvediy known, as "a wonderful .little' country," By sheo- enterprise and uuilagging energy in the past she 'hits overcome many great difficulties, aiid achieved an enviable position in the'forefront ranks of the industrial :world, especially for her ' wool, her

butter, her cheese, and her dead meat.

; But all important as these primary inJ'flustries undoubtedly are at the present

time, it is only too obvious that, if un-\'-"supported: :by secondary industries, linfit up on her many other untouched industrial resources, she cannot hope to maintain in the future that forefront place already gained. Viewing the strenuous struggr r supremacy going on in the industrial '■ ■'■world ■ to-day, where almost fabulous amounts of money arc being sunk in ■; thb application of. science to the improved development oi old-time re- ; sources, and the methods of dealing with .llicni, so ns. to get nil they can •yield out of them, it behoves. New Zca- . land to w.ake up to a realisation of the true position, a,nd start developing her other industrial resources. What, for

example, .is.she doing with her coal de-

posits to-day? Jt is quite true they are by .-no means inexhaustible, or even great, from either a. geological or an Industrial point of view; not great

enough to last, even at the.present rate

of consumption, for pernaps more than one hundred years; but-is New Zealand making the most of- them? She certainly is'not.- She is getting a little light, somewhat more heat, and a mod-<u-ato amount of power from her "black diamonds," but all the other invaluable products' that might be got, and that are being got elsewhere, from coal are in this country going up the. chimneys in -ugly black smoke. Some day all this will have to be changed, for already it may truly'be said that as a source of 'power, coal has, passed the zenith of its erstwhile utility; oil and. hydro-electric energy are daily ousting it from its premier place, and already the colliery companies, although paying dividends, are coyiplaining of the competition from oil and electricity. BITUMINOUS COAL. There arc. several .different kinds of coal in .this country, such as anthracite, humic or bituminous, Kapropelic, lias-, brown coal, v and lignite, and of •each typo there "are several varieties, ■and'all have their own particular uses. But,'taking the ordinary ,or household coal, popularly called "bituminous," ..let us see to., what uses, in addition to ..'heatijig,/,lighting, and power purposes, it is.being put iv almost every other" country'whore, it occurs as a natural geological deposit. When ordinary coal is-distilled for making illuminating gas 'it.is' -put into large retorts, or .ovens, out of contact -with the air, and subjected to ,a temperature of' about 1000 dog. C. It,, disintegrates into its constituent "parts and yields four distinct primary products,, viz.:—. (1) A' mixture of combustible, gases which When purified arc used for lighting, cjc. ' , ■ . 1 ' (2)' An evil-smelling watery liquid, -'called ".gas-water," containiirg ammonia. '._ .... . ■■ ; ■

(3) A heavy, dark-coloured fluid, kno.ini as coal-tar; and [

(4) A -large percentage of non-vola-tile substance, called coke.

For' many years- .ac gas-water and tar were regarded as practically useless "waste'products," a nuisance, in fact, of'which, it was difficult to get rid. But-time and' science altered all that, and converted the' cvil:snielling gaswater, into several - auimoniac.al compounds, the principal of .which is the /very valuable, nitrogenous .manure, known as sulphate of ammonia. And the coal-tar became a source of almost innumerable by-products,' the economic value of which may bo estimated in millions. . . s

■What is, New .Zealand doing in this -Vrayi Is. she manufacturing her own sulphate of ammonia? Is she producing, .anything from her coal-tar? She is .not—Certainly not to any extent worth . mentioning. For not manufacturing sulphate of ammonia at. tho present ■time she .can, bo excused, for sulphuric acid is necessary for that purpose, and New Zealand not only does not.make' .it,, but-.imports it in large quantities at a price far too high to use for making sulphate of ammonia. Of course, science has devised a means of making this very valuable article of commerce without the use of sulphuric acid," and it was—and is still—made in Germany and elsewhere by the use of gypsum (sulphate of calcium), which is a natural deposit even here in New Zealand. But evon if gypsum were in this country in. •economic quantities, its Hso in .'tho manufacture of ammonium sulphate is too wasteful of the ammonia content of the gas-water to ad-< mlt .of its. use. Some day, however, with the enormous hydro-electric power available in the Dominion, nitrogen^ will be abstracted from the atmosphere and many valuable products, as well as sulphate of ammonia, Avill bo cheaply made 'here. Until then we shall have to waty for this chemical manure; and in the meantime buy it elsewhere. BY-PRODUCTS OF COAL-TAR. ' It is quite different, however, wij;h tho by-products—or at least somo of them—derivable from coal-tar. When this is distilled it yields per ton:— •

12 gallons of "light oils," 20. gallons of ""carbolic oils." : , •17 ga lions >of "creosote oils." 38 gallons of "anthracene oils"; and llcwt of pitch.

■ Even in; their crude- state, some of .these,products are of very high industrial value for various purposes. Let us take, for instance, tho manufacture of that exceedingly simple preparation, "Sheep dip," which cos* this country in.1927 no less than £93,5.86. And for -tho," equally easily made disinfectants, ■ £41,481; riot to mention the "pickOing" of the half-million or so of sleeper^ telegraph poles, telephone tandards, whai t' piles, fencing posts which annually come into this country, and dozens of such-liko purposes. i ' BY-PEODtrCTS YIELD BY- | PRODUCTS. Then, if we go a little further and submit our crude by-products individually! to" further distillation, what do wo get? A vast range of things' of great commercial value. Let us say, f-r example, lubricating oils. Last year they cost this country £,278,222! And as for motor spirit, which can bo made- from coal-tar, and is so largely used in Germany, Franco, England, and elsewhere,,..it cost us Inst year, or-the 'year'before, no less than £1,915,1141 And these..arc just a few of the cruder 'byproducts within' New Zealand's reach of malting for herself. Of course, there are innumerable otlier by-products which it is quite unnecessary to men-. tjon,.as their manufacture- in quantity in tlio Dominion is, at present at all events, simply out of the question. Such, for instance, as dyes, drugs, chemicals, explosives, perfumes, etc. But with-

out dreaming of producing these, there t is a vast field open for enterprise in this countryr~

SOME OF THE USES.

A rough glance at the manner in which soi&o of these by-products are attained, and their various uses, may be of some interest. The "light oils," already, mentioned, ■whk'U distil over at fairly low temperatures (under 170 dug. C.) 'from the coaj tar wlien-, suitably treated and again distilled, yield "crude benzol," "solvent naphtha," and "burning naphtha." These arc in themselves .the mere raw materials for a whole host .of other products; but even without further tre.ttment they aro very largely used as solvents in the manufacture-of paints, enamels, rosins, varnishes, rubber solutions, insulating materials* lacs, bronze and aluminium paints, aud a number of such uses, including motor spirits, special lighting (the naphtha lamps -we frequently see lighting open spaces), etc. The "carbolic oils" yield various tar acids, especially . carbolic, and cresylic acids, and cresols,- which, as everybody knows, are the bases of almost all antiseptics and disinfectants, such as "lysol," "Joy's fluid," "er.eolin," et&; whilst "phenal," or pure Carbolic acid, is a highly valuable.article of commerce as an-antiseptic. And who is not familiar with the disinfectant and deodorant, "napthalene," which is made into crystaline cakes and balls and sold almost everywhere.

Tlic "creosote oils" arc used, as already i'tated, for timber pickling. In 1913 over 36,000,000 gallons were exported from England at about 4d per gallon to the. United States for pickling sleepers, because of the "railway development .in-America. And again when properly. treated it furnishes fuel for Diesel engines, etc. It is from the creosote oils the very best "sheep dips" are manufactured, and also "cattle washes." lira country in which there are • some 25,000,000 sheep, • surely the importation of "sheep dip" is somewhat of an anomaly!

All this, however, is a mere glance at the possibilities locked up in New Zealand's coal deposits, and it •is tiinc some of them at least were released. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. ' vßeading the history of scentific industrial research is like perusing the "Arabian Nights"; it is full of such marvellous achievements. And now .that New Zealand has at hist established her own department in this sphere of activity —and not before it was high time!—its results will keep her abreast of modern scientific development' throughout the world,, and if properly encouraged its achievements will undoubtedly advance the industrial and economic welfare of the country to an extent little dreamt of at present. But in addition to its highly competent staff, it must be very liberally financed A'o enable ,it to accomplish its task. As an instance of how industrial research re? pays a hundred.fold the vast amounts expended upon it, o,ue example taken at random from the.liistory of coal-tar byproducts may be of interest. A GREAT DISCOVERY. When indigo was first introduced from India into Europe, England barred its entrance into the British' Isles. » A stringent law was passed in Parliament, which referred to it as the "devilish drug," and prohibited its use 'under heavy penalty, because it threat-, cried the ; prosperous woad industry then flourishing in the Old Country, , Nevertheless, the product of the indigo plant wiped out the woad industry which practically no longer exists in England. About thirty years ago, the Indian industry was both large and lucrative. , The area_ .under cultivation amounted to 1,583,808 acres, and the weight of indigo produced was 8433 tons annually; worth between £4,000,000 and £5,000,000—a big thing, and a prize well worth lighting for. So at least thought Germany, and she set herself to work, scientifically, to capture it. ' The fight was- a long one; the struggle lasted for seventeen years, and Germany expended no less than £9,000,000 on her scientific, campaign, but she won in. the end. In October, ,1897, Germany placed her synthetic indigo, obtained from coal-tar, on the markets o.f the world. What was the result? She wiped out the great Indian industry, worth at least £4,000,----000 a year, and reduced it to a beggarly few thousands, whilst she, before the war, annually exported no less than £5,000,000 worth of her synthetic coaltar product. : • . Cihat 'is a mere, instance of what imagination, determination, and scientific research can do in. the industrial world. Another discovery of a similar type was that of alizarin from the "refuse of a-nthracite coal. Dr. Anderson, of. Glasgow, established the cxaet chemical composition of anthracene, which had up '.to then a.id for., some time later, - been regarded as a mere chemical curiosity. But some years later two German chemists recognising from Dr. Anderson's work the close kinship between anthracene and a natural vegetable dye called "alizarin," obtained from the madder plant, succeeded in making it from anthracene and thereby swept the maddergrowing industry out of existence. Previous to this scientific discovery some 70,000 tons of madder-root were annually ground for producing the dye, and its value was £3,150,000. To-day there is not a single plant of Bubia tinctrium (madder plant) grown for its dye, although Germany makes much more th<ln its former equivalent of artificial alizarin from a one-time coal waste. This is the dye which produces the beautiftil Turkey-red, and large quantities of il are used in Europe and America. It is now obtained from the "anthracene oils" mentioned as, a by-product from coal-tar. — ■

New Zealand, of course, could not hope to compete with such highly industrial countries as Germany or England in the manufacture of thosp'dyes, fine chemicals liko aspirin, antipyrini, and such complicated compounds, but from what has been said it is fairly obvious that this country is not doing all she might to keep her place in the industrial world.